Sonnet XLIV
If the dull substance of my flesh were thought,Injurious distance should not stop my way;For then despite of space I would be brought,From limits far remote, where thou dost stay.No matter then although my foot did standUpon the farthest earth remov’d from thee;For nimble thought can jump both sea and land,As soon as think the place where he would be.But, ah! thought kills me that I am not thought,To leap large lengths of miles when thou art gone,But that so much of earth and water wrought,I must attend time’s leisure with my moan;Receiving nought by elements so slowBut heavy tears, badges of either’s woe.
About this text
Sonnet XLIV is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shakespeare's Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #1041; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Shakespeare, Sonnet XLIV, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-44.html, id L00062.
Form and metre
Sonnet XLIV is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other English sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDCDEFEFGG thoughtA · wayB · broughtA · stayB · standC · theeD · landC · beD · thoughtE · goneF · wroughtE · moanF · slowG · woeG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If the dull substance of my flesh were thought, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Injurious distance should not stop my way; | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| For then despite of space I would be brought, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| From limits far remote, where thou dost stay. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| No matter then although my foot did stand | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Upon the farthest earth remov’d from thee; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| For nimble thought can jump both sea and land, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| As soon as think the place where he would be. | 10 | ·········· |
| But, ah! thought kills me that I am not thought, | 10 | ·········· |
| To leap large lengths of miles when thou art gone, | 10 | ·········· |
| But that so much of earth and water wrought, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I must attend time’s leisure with my moan; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Receiving nought by elements so slow | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘˘·· |
| But heavy tears, badges of either’s woe. | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.